>Life’s been pretty busy lately; haven’t had time for much of anything, let alone gaming, or – more to the point – writing about gaming. So, then:

1. Duke Nukem 3D coming to XBLA. DN3D is what got me into PC shooters; I never did any of the multiplayer or anything, I was simply a slavish devotee of the single player. And to be honest, I’m not entirely sure I played the whole game – my brother-in-law-to-be had installed the shareware version of it on my brother’s computer, and so I think there might have been a few levels that I never had access to. In any event, this is even MORE exciting to me than the release of DNF.

2. Hey, Microsoft, I’ve got an idea for you. You’ve said repeatedly that you didn’t include an HD-DVD drive in the 360 because you respected the consumer’s appetite for choice, and that you weren’t necessarily opposed to the idea of Blu-Ray. So, then: why not make a Blu-Ray add-on? I’ll tell you right now, if you make a Blu-Ray add-on and sell it for less than $250, that means that I don’t have to buy a PS3. We all know that you’re hoping for digital distribution to be the way of the future – and I agree with you 100% – but in the meantime, this is something you absolutely have to do.

3. Played a bit of Poker Smash this morning before work; it’s a great puzzler. It’s based on the Bejeweled concept of 3-match, except instead of colors, you’re looking to make poker hands, from 3-of-a-kind on up. And you’re only allowed to move pieces horizontally. And the board keeps moving, so there’s an element of time pressure. And it’s quite pretty, which is an added bonus. Best of all, I got an Achievement or two during my time with the trial version, which pretty much sealed the deal in terms of me unlocking the full version. Developers, you should know: alerting a potential customer of a demo version of your game that they’ve unlocked Achievements has GOT to have a measurable impact on sales.

4. Mass Effect DLC is on its way. Goddamn. Just when I thought I’d gotten that game out of my system. However… my first impression of this is pretty underwhelming; 60-90 minutes of gameplay, most of which will probably be spent in loading screens and/or buildings we’ve already seen on a million other planets? Bioware – wake me up when you get something like The Shivering Isles ready to go.